Category:Forest Health Protection

On August 17 and 18, state foresters from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, along with their staffs and personnel from the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), gathered in Biloxi, MS. This was the third State Line Meeting for state foresters Wade Dubea of Louisiana and Charlie Morgan of Mississippi, and the first for Alabama State… More

Between 2005 and 2015, only 18 counties in the southern U.S. experienced southern pine beetle outbreaks–fewer than two outbreak counties per year on average. U.S. Forest Service entomologist Chris Asaro wanted to know why and worked with two other Forest Health Protection scientists, John Nowak and Anthony Elledge, on a new review paper published in Forest… More

The U.S. Forest Service has teamed up with ESRI to create an exciting new tool for the Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) Prevention Program. This web-based application is called a story map, which is designed for users to navigate through interactive maps accompanied by multimedia content and informative text. The information is provided by the Forest… More

Sap-sucking insects called hemlock woolly adelgids are draining the life from a common evergreen tree in the eastern United States. Since arriving from Japan in the 1950s, the tiny bugs have spread from Georgia to Maine—about half of the Eastern hemlock’s range. Once the bugs become well-established, the consequences can be grave. Areas with severe… More

Oak woodlands are typically made up of large, widely spaced trees. Flowering plants, grasses, and other herbaceous species flourish in the understory. “Many public lands managers want to create woodland habitats,” says U.S. Forest Service research forester Stacy Clark. “They provide numerous ecological benefits.” The historical extent of oak woodlands in southeastern forests is relatively… More

The U.S. Forest Service has teamed up with ESRI to create an exciting new tool for the Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) Prevention Program. This web-based application is called a story map, which is designed for users to navigate through interactive maps accompanied by multimedia content and informative text. The information is provided by the Forest… More

Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF) recently published a new technology bulletin on the biology, diagnosis, and management of Heterobasidion root disease in southern pines. U.S. Forest Service plant pathologists Tyler Dreaden, Southern Research Station (SRS), and Michelle Cram, Forest Health Protection, co-authored the publication with Jason Smith from the University of Florida and SREF’s David… More

Do you want to know what pests are affecting the health of the trees on the national lands you visit or live near? The Forest Health Advisory System developed by U.S. Forest Service Forest Health Protection highlights potential future activities of more than 40 major forest pests and pathogens across 1.2 billion acres of U.S. forestland.… More

Everyone can understand the importance of a yearly checkup for monitoring one’s general health and wellbeing. Regular “checkups” are also necessary to gauge the overall health and monitoring needs of U.S. forests, so managers, scientists, and decision makers look to the U.S. Forest Service’s annual Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) national report to gain insights into… More

Over the past decade, U.S. Forest Service researchers have been working with university cooperators to find some way to slow down or stop the relentless spread of cogongrass. In late 2014, Auburn University researchers reported results that demonstrated, for the first time, that patches of cogongrass can be eliminated completely within three years — showing… More